Question from Reddit user:
After research, I found out that LinkedIn doesn’t provide app install campaigns.
Is there a way to track the app installs if I use UTMs on the apple store/Google Store links?
Answer from Nabil:
The short answer is:
You are correct that LinkedIn doesn’t have a native app install campaign objective, which is why tracking is challenging, and simply using UTMs on the App Store or Google Play Store links won’t work because the app stores strip these parameters, preventing you from attributing the install back to your LinkedIn ad.
The only reliable and accurate solution is to use a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) like AppsFlyer to bridge the data gap, and then feed that attributed install data back to LinkedIn using the LinkedIn Conversions API for campaign optimization.
The long answer is:
Your plan to use UTMs on app store links will fail because both Apple and Google’s app stores are closed environments that deliberately strip all URL query parameters, including UTMs, before sending the user to download the app.
This is the core reason why app install measurement is fundamentally different from website tracking.
Since the app stores don’t pass the initial ad click data, you need a different technology known as mobile attribution to perform Probabilistic Matching or Deep Linking.
This is where a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) like AppsFlyer comes in as the excellent solution.
Here is how the full solution works: First, you use AppsFlyer to generate a unique, tracked link for your LinkedIn campaigns.
This link redirects users to the appropriate app store but also collects anonymous click data like the device IP address, operating system, and timestamp.
Second, you integrate the AppsFlyer SDK into your mobile app.
When a user installs and first opens the app, the SDK fires a first open or install event to AppsFlyer’s servers.
Third, AppsFlyer’s server then attempts to match the anonymous data from the app’s first open to the anonymous click data collected from the unique LinkedIn link.
If the data points match within an acceptable window, the install is successfully attributed to your LinkedIn campaign.
Finally, and this is the crucial part for optimization, you then use the LinkedIn Conversions API to send the attributed install and any subsequent in-app conversion events (like purchase or level_achieved) directly from AppsFlyer’s server back to the LinkedIn Ads platform.
This server-to-server data transfer bypasses any client-side issues and gives LinkedIn the necessary feedback to optimize your campaign delivery toward users who are most likely to install and convert, effectively achieving a performance-driven app install campaign even without a native LinkedIn objective.
About The Author
